The Elderly in Slovenia

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THE ELDERLY IN SLOVENIA3ForewordThis is a time of great social changes, which are largely due to the development of political,economic and demographic factors. Due to continuous reduction in fertility and mortality(i.e. longer life expectancy), especially in the developed world – including European countries– we are faced with accelerated population ageing and the changes and problems relatedto it. We speak of population ageing when the share of the population over a selected age(most often the accomplished 65 years) in the total population is rising. The populationageing is thus one of the serious challenges facing the humanity today. Although the relevantindicators have for many years been drawing attention to this phenomenon, we must realizethat “the population ageing is a quiet process, that it develops over a longer time and that itleads to consequences that are difficult to predict” (Antonio Galini 1 ). This is why the currentsituation of population ageing in the world is something new, unique, unpredictable andshould be treated differently. “The older persons of today are not the older persons ofyesterday, and will be different from the older persons of tomorrow.” (Elizabeth Mullen 2 ).In the last decade the problem of population ageing has been intensively studied by theUnited Nations, the OECD and the European Union. The constant decrease in fertility andthe longer life expectancy in recent decades have greatly changed the age structure of thepopulation – the world’s population is getting older. The majority of the EU-27 Member Statesare facing the consequences of the fact that their populations are gradually ageing. Anincreased share of the elderly causes a number of changes and is the reason for newchallenges for which appropriate solutions must be found as soon as possible. Suchdemographic development requires profound social changes in the fields of social security,housing and employment, and probably elsewhere. In addition, the gradual process ofpopulation ageing also strongly affects the normal relationships between generations. Moreand more people feel that answers must be found by all generations together and that theirefforts and search must be based on dialogue and mutual cooperation.In 1991 (9 years after the first World Assembly on Ageing was held in 1982 in Vienna) theUN General Assembly adopted the United Nations principles for older persons and in 2002(at the Second World Assembly on Ageing in Madrid) the International Action Plan on Ageing.With this plan the UN wanted to promote the development of a society for all ages andpromote a new culture of ageing and thereby contribute to a more humane and happier oldage in the 21 st century.In October 1998, the “eve of” the International Year of Older Persons, 1999, the then UNSecretary General Mr. Kofi Annan said that “we are in the midst of a silent revolution, arevolution that extends well beyond demographics, with major economic, social, cultural,psychological and spiritual implications.” He thought about the population ageing, i.e. theincrease in the share of older people, which is mainly due to significant economic, socialand health-related progress, but is also one of the most important challenges the world –first its developed part (including the EU) – will have to seriously address in the comingyears.1Institute of Medical Biochemistry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.2American Association for Retired Persons (AARP).
In Slovenia, too, population ageing is a process that can not be avoided. With the declineor too modest number of births, with longer life expectancy and with lower mortality the agestructure of the population is changing: the share of children aged 0-14 is decreasing, whilethe share of working age population (15-64 years) and the share of older people (aged 65+)are increasing. Between 1981 and 2004 the share of children decreased from 23% to 14%; inthe same period the share of working age population (15-64 years) increased from 66% to69.5%, while the share of people aged 65 or more – which was in the early 1980s around10% – has been constantly increasing since 1987 and in 2004 exceeded 15%.According to the medium variant of EUROPOP2008 population projections for Slovenia,by 2060 the share of people aged 65+ is expected to increase by more than 16 percentagepoints (to 33.4%); the number of people aged 65+ should increase to 589,900 (from 325,300in 2008). The share of people aged 80+ is expected to increase to 14.1% or in absolutenumber to 249,500 (in 2008 the share was 3.5% or 71,200 people).As in many countries the population ageing already threatens the sustainability of theirpublic finance, much attention is focused on this problem and seeking of possible solutions.When speaking of the increased life expectancy and the associated modified health statusof people discussions revolve around the possible financial implications of an ageingpopulation, age is normally assessed by three possible scenarios: “living longer”, “ living ingood health” and “ living longer and staying in good health.”Despite the many unknowns about the future faced by humans (even those from Slovenia)today, it is the clear that tomorrow’s society will be different from today’s – also and especiallydue to demographic change. According to demographic indicators, our society has alreadyentered the “mature years” as the share of older people – in the so-called “golden age” – issteadily increasing; at the same time the attitudes towards ageing and older people arealso substantially changing. Experiencing and anticipating longer lives, our feelings areoften mixed: we are delighted because we can hope to live long, but we are also afraidbecause we do not know whether at old age we will have the resources to survive.In search of the most appropriate solutions in this area for our society, our new publicationis an additional source of information necessary for planning future changes in this areaand for defining some measurable objectives. Data showing only “extracts” for selectedareas related to population ageing in Slovenia were, if possible, supplemented with datafrom other EU-27 Member States, which clearly show the position of Slovenia in the Europeancontext in view of some of the described areas. Even though Slovenia is a small country interms of its territory and population, as regards the ageing indicators there are (larger orsmaller) differences among individual “territorial parts” of the country (statistical regionsand municipalities of the Republic of Slovenia).The brochure also presents a selection of data on persons having pension insurance andreceiving pensions in Slovenia, which were prepared by the Pension and Disability InsuranceInstitute from its records this time for the first time by municipalities of Slovenia.Irena Kri`manDirector-General
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The Elderly in Slovenia

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